what is prayer? by john piper

excerpt from John Piper's sermon, "Pray like this: Hallowed be Your name"
http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/pray-like-this-hallowed-be-your-name

1) What Is Prayer?

By prayer, I mean intentionally conveying a message to God. It’s frustrating—isn’t it?—how unclear language can be if we are not careful. Why do I say “intentionally conveying a message to God? Why don’t I just say that prayer is talking to God? Well, becauseRomans 8:26 says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” I take this to mean that there are groans of our hearts that the Spirit inspires that are sometimes wordless. So prayer is usually talking to God, but there are times when you can’t talk and can still pray, that is, convey a message to God.

Or why don’t I just say, then, that prayer is communicating with God? Well, because that sounds like I’m talking to him and he is talking to me. But that is not what prayer is. God talking to me is never called prayer in the Bible. When God communicates something to us, we call it revelation or illumination. It is not prayer. And we get into a big, unbiblical muddle if we use the word prayer for what God speaks to us.

Why then don’t I just say that prayer is conveying a message to God? Well, because people are conveying messages to God all day long, but we don’t call it prayer. People are conveying messages like, God is not important to me. Or, God is irrelevant to this situation. Or, God doesn’t exist. But these messages are not intentionally sent to God. They are clear, and we can sometimes discern them. God always discerns them.

Intentionally Conveying a Message to God

So I chose the words: Prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God. And that prayer can be at least five different kinds of message:

• You can ask for something—this is the most basic meaning of prayer, and God delights for his children to ask him for help. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).
• You can praise him or marvel at him or give expression to your adoration of him. “Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:2-3).
• You can thank him for his gifts and his acts (which is not the same as praising him for his nature). “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign” (Revelation 11:17).
• You can confess your sins and tell the Lord that you are sorry. “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).
• And finally, you can complain to the Lord. “With my voice I cry out to the Lord. . . . I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him” (Psalm 142:1-2). Now here, again, language frustrates. So are you saying, Pastor John, that it is good to have a complaining heart toward God? No. Philippians 2:14: “Do all things without grumbling or questioning.” It’s not good to have a complaining heart. The heart should trust God in all his sweet and bitter providences. So why then do you say we should complain to the Lord? Because sometimes our hearts do complain about the circumstances God has given us, even though our hearts shouldn’t do this, and it is better to consciously direct it toward the Lord than to think he doesn’t see it. Acting like you are not complaining is hypocrisy and will make you a very phony, shallow, plastic person in the end.

So prayer is intentionally conveying a message to God. And that message may be asking for something, praising God for something about him, thanking him for some gift, confessing your sins to him, or complaining to him.

jonathan edwards' first sermon

excerpted from sermon by Tim Keller, "personal prayer" from 2005(2006?).

Jonathan Edwards' first sermon was given when he was 18.

"Christian Happiness"

thesis - Christians should be happy.

Three points.
Why should Christians be happy?

1. Our bad things will turn out for good (romans 8:28)
2. Our good things can never be taken away from us. (the light of His countenance, pardon for sin, assurance of grace. inheritance of eternal life.)
3. The best things are yet to come.

honest thoughts from observing kony2012 movement

i wrote a whole long essay on my thoughts and emotions from observing the viral response of this movement...but decided to delete it and just post this simple, honest thought i had:

for some believers,
why/how does a viral video stir us up so deeply, and yet the bible simply doesn't for many people?

---

this guy's blogpost sums up many of my reactions (and addresses them) nicely.
http://jeremyhasablog.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/kon/

forgiveness is from God

from my tumblr
---
parent of victim chooses to forgive shooter

When asked what she would say to the suspected shooter, Ferguson said, “I would tell him I forgive him because, a lot of times, they don’t know what they’re doing. That’s all I’d say.”

“I taught Demetrius not to live in the past, to live in today and forgiveness is divine. You have to forgive everything. God’s grace is new each and every day,” she said. “Until you’ve walked in another person’s shoes, you don’t know what made him come to this point.”

—-

“He wasn’t a morning person and he was late for school. But that one day he wasn’t late,” his mom said. “We were running a little late, but we weren’t late enough. But it’s okay. It’s in God’s hands. Let his will be done.”

—-

“God knew what he was doing. It’s not for my understanding, but mine to accept and remember him as he was,” Ferguson said.
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Just a quick thought:

As Ms. Ferguson said, "forgiveness is divine."


Forgiveness, the act of showing grace practically, is from God. You cannot possibly forgive anyone fully just by saying so.  You cannot do it by sheer willpower.

Think about it. How can that be even possible when the worst sin has been done against you?

For Ms. Ferguson, I believe that in her heart, there is still a grief only a mother would know. The grief of losing a son, by way of a horrible death. I believe that her heart is not fully healed of this and as she says she is forgiving the shooter, that her heart doesn't fully resonate with that statement...

...at least not yet.

She is choosing to forgive by faith. And assuming that she is a believer of Christ (which seems to be the case), it is the understanding that forgiveness and grace is a divine act, not by our will but by His will and power which will lead and guide her heart during this time of healing.

God's greatest forgiveness and grace is seen at the cross of Christ. A just action would've been to condemn us all...but He chose to forgive.

We have been forgiven of much.

remember that you are also able to forgive in faith. You may not feel it now or even agree with it. But leave at least some space in your heart to forgive by faith because brother, sister, you have been forgiven of a cosmically greater sin against God.

sokin's devotional 34

"woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks..."
Isaiah 5:22


"beware of the teachers of the law. they like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. such men will be punished most severely."
Luke 20:46-47


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I've been asked about the biblical stance on drinking a couple of times in the past couple of weeks. And I take this to mean that for many believers, the issue of drinking is one that they would like to reconcile.

For one thing though, I see this as a sign that people are trying to reconcile an overindulgent drinking lifestyle, rather than one that seeks to just enjoy a beer or wine.

More often than not, a person would ask me this question not because they are casual drinkers, but they (by the conviction of the Holy Spirit), just have a sense that their drinking is not in tune with God.

And rightly so.

In my college years, and I this playing out even now, people tended to glorify people that can drink. We praise their gift at consuming mass quantities of alcohol and we naturally see it as a cool thing.

Every drinking game follows this desire to consume a lot of alcohol and almost always, the person that can drink the most is a god amongst peers.

Maybe not literally.. (no one is worshiping these people outrightly)...but on a deeper heart level, there is a sense of awe and praise we delight to give people like this.

On the flip side, Jesus warns us about the pharisees and those that chose to worship themselves. Peopel that sought the praises of men for their religiousness and piety were just as much sinners and worthy of condemnation. So much so that Jesus says, "such men will be punished most severely."

In either case, we must remember that like in the prodigal son story, both the elder "good" son and the prodigal "sinful" son BOTH needed redemption.

Drinking, in and of itself is not evil, but it can become evil. (drinking excessively, debauchery, drinking without adherence to the law of the land, etc.)

But in the same way, "religion" or a "religious spirit" is not evil, but it can become evil.

words. say what you mean.

I had a random thought tonight as I was listening to Christopher Plummer's acceptance speech for best supporting actor:

The older generation speak so eloquently and succinctly.

It probably doesn't apply to everyone in that era but i couldn't help but be very impressed and put to shame by just how he spoke so well, using vocabulary that clearly expressed his emotions.

Living in a generation that speaks in such short "bursts", "tweets" and encourages internet acronyms that are more comical than expressive (LOL, ROFL, etc...) it was refreshing to hear someone explain himself so well without wasting a breath with an "umm" or a "like."

I, myself, am completely guilty of using too many useless words for saying something so simple.

My fiction writing professor in college told it to me so well in a brief (yet heated) exchange I had with him.

"David...you use too many words to describe something. Just say what you mean... The blue blood boiled."

Having my devotionals go through proverbs has further cemented this idea. The bible tells us that our words can be a fire. Used to harm or do good. Speak truth, or spread lies.

Say what you mean. And mean what you say.

psalm 62:5

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.